The Charter Committee for the City of New Orleans was created by ordinance no. 17,968 C.C.S. in
1950; its purpose was to "advise and assist in the preparation of, and draft a proposed new Home Rule Charter for the
City of New Orleans and submit the same to the Commission Council for its approval, modification, or rejection. . . . "
Intended to be "a non-factional, non-political group of representative citizens, whose sole aim and desire will be to
secure the best possible form of government for the City," the Committee was empowered to hire technical and clerical
staff; to hold public hearings on matters pertinent to their work; to publish its minutes, reports and other proceedings,
along with the final draft of the charter.

Subseries I is comprised of routine correspondence with Committee members and city officials as well as letters
from citizens and from correspondents from other cities offering suggestions and opinions regarding the new charter.
Some correspondence solicits and obtains recommendations from people or organizations from other U.S. cities
involved in similar charter revision processes.

Subseries II consists of files labled "Job No. __"; these "jobs" are generally the originals of staff memos or reports
to or from Committee Director Val Mogensen on various background research done by Mogensen, consultants, or other
Committee staff/members. The originals were apparently used by Committee staff to type masters for duplication.

Subseries IV includes reports or sample charter items obtained from other cities involved in charter revision. Most of
these reports were prepared byt the Governmental Research Institute for the St. Louis Board of Freeholders in 1949.

Subseries Vis comprised of files on various sections of the charter, including drafts, corrected proofs, maps, memos, and
a few annual reports submitted by city agencies to assist the Committee in its preparation of the charter.

Subseries VI contains corrected proofs of the proposed charter.

Subseries VII consists of two files removed from a large cardboard binder labelled "Secretary's Records" and
containing copies of correspondence and other materials, much of which is probably duplicated elsewhere in the charter
records.

Subseries VIII. Copies or originals of charts showingthe organization of New Orleans municipal government under the
new charter; the structure of boards and commissions; and ward/precinct maps for the city.

1 Ballots, Kinds of Municipal [Governmental Research Institute, St. Louis, MO]
2 Charter Drafts, Council-Manager Government for Tennessee Cities
3 Civil Service ["Civil Service Provisions for Large American Cities"; Governmental Research Institute, St. Louis,
MO]
4 Fire Department ["A Fire Department for St. Louis; Governmental Research Institute, St. Louis, MO]
5 Forms of Municipal Government [2 reports: "Questions and Answers on the Form of Municipal Government" and
"Factual Data Relating to the Forms of City Government in the U.S."; Governmental Research Institute, St. Louis,
MO]
6 Health and Welfare ["A Department of Health and Welfare for St. Louis"; Governmental Research Institute, St. Louis,
MO]
7 Parks and Recreation ["A Department of Parks and Recreation for St. Louis"; Governmental Research Institute, St.
Louis, MO]